A Facebook friend and Instagram follower from France asks: “Tell me, what would you say to a beginner in photography? Do you have any advice to share?” My short answer: put your camera down until you start to develop a strong eye for photography.

Gone are the roses, tulips, dahlias in full bloom and bees hunting for pollen. In are the oaks, maples and sweetgum brandishing multicolored leaves and the fallen among them, some afloat or sunk in lakes, ponds and pools across Old Westbury Gardens on Long Island.

What I noticed first about the equestrian monument to Joan of Arc on Manhattan’s West Side, as I approached from a pedestrian path in the small park named for the French patriot, is that she and her horse were not noticeable.